Joe Perry on Working With Paul McCartney on ‘Hollywood Vampires’ LP: ‘I Still Can’t Believe It’

At this point in his career, there probably isn't much that can make Joe Perry geek out — but recording with Paul McCartney is one notable exception.

The former Beatle was one of several luminaries Perry worked with during the sessions for the upcoming Hollywood Vampires album, which found Alice Cooper paying tribute to his early '70s record business drinking buddies with an all-star covers project built around a trio consisting of himself, Perry and Johnny Depp. McCartney's contribution, a re-recording of his composition "Come and Get It" — originally a hit for Badfinger — left Perry in awe.

Saying he'd always thought "Come and Get It" was "a really good tune," Perry gushed to ABC News Radio that "[Getting to] play it live with the guy who wrote it, and a Beatle was, like, stunning" — not least because the Beatles were a formative influence on the future Aerosmith guitarist as a young boy.

"I remember watching them on [The] Ed Sullivan [Show] when I was 14 ... I mean, that why I'm doing what I'm doing today," he explained. "And to have [McCartney] just strolling in like any [of the] other cats that played on [the album] was really amazing. I still can't believe it."

According to Perry, Cooper and Depp felt the same way. "[We] were looking at each other like, 'I can't believe this is happening,'" he recalled. "We were really grateful to have him come in and cut the track. I mean, for all of us, it was like, 'Holy s---, we're actually doing a session with Paul McCartney ... I mean, talk about an ego leveler."

Hollywood Vampires is due out Sept. 11.

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